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Mahopac's Kim Harker and Clarkstown South's Erin Kelly are among 25 players to make the US Lacrosse women's U19 practice squad. Eighteen of the 25 will compete for the U.S. in next year's world championship.

Mahopac's Kim Harker and Clarkstown South's Erin Kelly are among 25 players to make the US Lacrosse women's U19 practice squad. Eighteen of the 25 will compete for the U.S. in next year's world championship.

Mahopac senior Kim Harker is a finalist for a place on the U.S. lacrosse team for next year’s U19 world championship.(Photo: Submitted photo)

Story Highlights

Erin Kelly and Kim Harker sat silently with 38 other elite teenage lacrosse players, hoping that both their assigned numbers would be called.

Magic numbers that might lead to magic letters.

Soon, they heard Harker's No. 49, then Kelly's 88.

"I just had a big smile on my face. I started to shake," Harker said.

The numbers were the go-ahead for them to think a little more about wearing a game jersey bearing those three letters — "USA."

Kelly, who plays defense for Clarkstown South, and Harker, a Mahopac midfielder, were among 25 players who survived the cut to make the USA under-19 girls lacrosse practice team.

Next summer, 18 of them will play for the U.S. in Scotland in the once-every-four-years, Federation of International Lacrosse under-19 world championship, which the U.S. has won four consecutive times.

One-hundred eleven players were invited to last month's three-day tryout in Maryland from among 800 who played in May in the schoolgirls division of the US Lacrosse Women's National Tournament. Just being invited to try out was a big deal.

"I was so ecstatic. It was awesome. But at the same time, I was so nervous going," Kelly said.

"My whole life, I've wanted to play for Team USA," said Harker.

The tryout was taxing, involving lacrosse, then more and more lacrosse.

"You had to keep up mentally and physically," Kelly said.

But it was also rewarding.

"It was so much fun to play high-level competition with girls like that," said Kelly, who between high school and her Metro Magic club team plays lacrosse 10 months per year.

Hopefuls from 18 states were in the mix, and Section 1 was well-represented with five players.

After two days, Kelly and Harker — who both played for Hudson Valley in the national tourney and became tight friends during the U19 tryout — were among 40 players chosen for one last three-and-a-half-hour field session that helped determine whose numbers were called.

The 25 will train together in Washington, D.C., for three days in October, in Florida for three days in January, then again at still-to-be-determined locations in June and July, with the group pared then to the final 18.

The girls, who have one year of high school left before Kelly plays for the University of North Carolina and Harker for Northwestern, plan to increase their training.

Kelly, who wants to get in better shape and improve her stick skills and footwork, plans to draft younger sister Aileen into workouts. But she also will train with friends.

That will no doubt include Harker, who plans to put together a 7-on-7 tournament team.

Both girls played backyard lacrosse with family members as young children. Harker, who also plays ice hockey for Mahopac, joined her first lacrosse team in third grade; Kelly, who also plays basketball for Clarkstown South, did so in fourth.

Harker, who's on the Westchester Elite club and plays lacrosse 11 months a year, was introduced to the game through older brothers Ryan and Robert. She noted that Robert, who lives near Baltimore, attended a U19 tryout scrimmage and played some lacrosse with her at the site.

While Harker's goal is to earn a USA jersey next summer, Ryan's already sporting the letters.

After hearing she'd made the practice squad, her brother "bought a USA hat and hasn't stopped wearing it," she said with a laugh.